Angie Motshekga said on Monday that she won’t “engage any stakeholders” via the media ahead of the April 14 pre-release of the “jobs for sale” investigation report.
That’s when the Minister of Basic Education will discuss the report with the unions and school governing body (SGB) associations‚ ahead of its of April 15 release to the public.
“The minister has noted statements from the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) and the concerns they have raised‚” a statement said on Monday.
“The minister will not engage any stakeholders via the media but will instead address all issues at the scheduled meeting planned for April 14.”
Motshekga had appointed a ministerial task team (MTT) to investigate reports by the City Press that teacher and principal posts were being sold by members of Sadtu.
In December‚ she acknowledged the veracity of the scandal within her portfolio‚ and announced that criminal cases will be instigated to stamp out cases of cash changing hands for school principal positions.
“The interim report confirms that there is corruption and undue influence on the appointment of teachers and school principals‚” the minister told a news briefing at the time.
It was that interim report which took up most of an angry Sadtu statement on Saturday.
“The union has made some observations from the leaked interim report itself and the process leading to its finalisation which has brought us to the conclusion that it lacks credibility and cannot thus be an accurate reflection of the situation on the ground‚” Sadtu said.
While headlining its statement “A Wild Goose Chase of Extraordinary Proportions”‚ the union said the leaked information “proves that from the onset‚ the MTT’s aim was to target Sadtu and its members in order to cover the weaknesses of the education system”.
Sadtu also complained that‚ after obtaining a copy of the leaked interim report and approaching “the MTT expressing our concerns on a number of the aspects and findings made in the report‚ the MTT in its wisdom has elected not to respond to any of the specific issues”.
The MTT had also not provided‚ “where requested‚ supporting evidence of its findings and conclusions‚” the union said.
“This selective leaking of the information sought to influence the public opinion for specific political ends‚” Sadtu said.
While Motshekga said she will not engage shareholders via the media‚ her spokesperson‚ on her behalf‚ did express “her disappointment at the repeated misleading statements made by the Democratic Alliance (DA) on this matter”.
“We wish to remind the DA that the investigation has got to do with people’s lives and some of whom have already been lost‚” said Elijah Mhlanga.
“Key to the investigation was the protection of witnesses and whistle-blowers hence the involvement of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development and a forensic team of investigators.
“The DA should refrain from using the investigation for political point scoring because the matter is sensitive and people’s lives remain under threat. It is for that reason that proper preparations must be made before the report can be made public.”
Sadtu on Saturday also had words for the DA.
“We want to highlight that despite the excitement of the Democratic Alliance which has publicly declared its hatred for Sadtu and clearly wants to ‘capture’ the governing of this country through political blackmail‚ the MTT has not made any specific findings relative to its terms of reference that Sadtu or any specific official was involved in the irregular appointments‚” the union said.
“Despite this‚ the MTT simply makes generalised statements and clearly expresses its negative view of Sadtu. In a previous statement on the same matter‚ we have characterised this as “a report based on suggestions and innuendoes”‚ this view has now been strengthened by the release of the final report.”
Last Thursday‚ the DA had reacted to the outlining of the timetable for the final path of the report by the department by saying: “The ‘jobs for cash’ report will provide evidence that Sadtu principals are bribing Sadtu-aligned officials in exchange for teaching posts.
“It becomes clearer with each passing day that much of our school system has been infiltrated and captured by Sadtu. This is why Sadtu-aligned principals and officials are able to get away with large-scale corruption in our school system‚” said the party’s basic education spokesperson‚ Gavin Davis.
Motshekga to stay mum ahead of ‘jobs for sale’ report release
That’s when the Minister of Basic Education will discuss the report with the unions and school governing body (SGB) associations‚ ahead of its of April 15 release to the public.
“The minister has noted statements from the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) and the concerns they have raised‚” a statement said on Monday.
“The minister will not engage any stakeholders via the media but will instead address all issues at the scheduled meeting planned for April 14.”
Motshekga had appointed a ministerial task team (MTT) to investigate reports by the City Press that teacher and principal posts were being sold by members of Sadtu.
In December‚ she acknowledged the veracity of the scandal within her portfolio‚ and announced that criminal cases will be instigated to stamp out cases of cash changing hands for school principal positions.
“The interim report confirms that there is corruption and undue influence on the appointment of teachers and school principals‚” the minister told a news briefing at the time.
It was that interim report which took up most of an angry Sadtu statement on Saturday.
“The union has made some observations from the leaked interim report itself and the process leading to its finalisation which has brought us to the conclusion that it lacks credibility and cannot thus be an accurate reflection of the situation on the ground‚” Sadtu said.
While headlining its statement “A Wild Goose Chase of Extraordinary Proportions”‚ the union said the leaked information “proves that from the onset‚ the MTT’s aim was to target Sadtu and its members in order to cover the weaknesses of the education system”.
Sadtu also complained that‚ after obtaining a copy of the leaked interim report and approaching “the MTT expressing our concerns on a number of the aspects and findings made in the report‚ the MTT in its wisdom has elected not to respond to any of the specific issues”.
The MTT had also not provided‚ “where requested‚ supporting evidence of its findings and conclusions‚” the union said.
“This selective leaking of the information sought to influence the public opinion for specific political ends‚” Sadtu said.
While Motshekga said she will not engage shareholders via the media‚ her spokesperson‚ on her behalf‚ did express “her disappointment at the repeated misleading statements made by the Democratic Alliance (DA) on this matter”.
“We wish to remind the DA that the investigation has got to do with people’s lives and some of whom have already been lost‚” said Elijah Mhlanga.
“Key to the investigation was the protection of witnesses and whistle-blowers hence the involvement of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development and a forensic team of investigators.
“The DA should refrain from using the investigation for political point scoring because the matter is sensitive and people’s lives remain under threat. It is for that reason that proper preparations must be made before the report can be made public.”
Sadtu on Saturday also had words for the DA.
“We want to highlight that despite the excitement of the Democratic Alliance which has publicly declared its hatred for Sadtu and clearly wants to ‘capture’ the governing of this country through political blackmail‚ the MTT has not made any specific findings relative to its terms of reference that Sadtu or any specific official was involved in the irregular appointments‚” the union said.
“Despite this‚ the MTT simply makes generalised statements and clearly expresses its negative view of Sadtu. In a previous statement on the same matter‚ we have characterised this as “a report based on suggestions and innuendoes”‚ this view has now been strengthened by the release of the final report.”
Last Thursday‚ the DA had reacted to the outlining of the timetable for the final path of the report by the department by saying: “The ‘jobs for cash’ report will provide evidence that Sadtu principals are bribing Sadtu-aligned officials in exchange for teaching posts.
“It becomes clearer with each passing day that much of our school system has been infiltrated and captured by Sadtu. This is why Sadtu-aligned principals and officials are able to get away with large-scale corruption in our school system‚” said the party’s basic education spokesperson‚ Gavin Davis.
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